Economics 314 Coursebook, 2014

Jeffrey Parker

BASIC MACROECONOMIC MODELS: THE

MULTIPLIER, QUANTITY THEORY, IS/LM,
AND AGGREGATE SUPPLY AND DEMAND
Chapter 2 Contents

A. Topics and Tools ............................................................................. 2

B. Income, Expenditures, and the Keynesian Multiplier ................................ 2
The multiplier process in math terms ..............................................................................3
More direct derivation: Solving the model .......................................................................5
Graphical analysis of the income-expenditure model ........................................................5
C. The Quantity Theory of Money ........................................................... 8
Money supply and demand ...........................................................................................9
Equation of exchange .................................................................................................. 10
The quantity theory .................................................................................................... 11
Keynes and the classics................................................................................................ 12
D. The IS/LM Model........................................................................... 12
The structure of the model ........................................................................................... 13
Expenditure equilibrium and the IS curve ..................................................................... 14
Asset equilibrium and the LM curve ............................................................................. 15
Equilibrium in the IS/LM model ................................................................................ 18
E. Aggregate Demand and Supply ........................................................... 19
Output and Prices....................................................................................................... 20
Levels or growth rates? ................................................................................................ 20
Aggregate supply and the natural level of output ............................................................ 22
Upward-sloping aggregate supply ................................................................................. 23
A fixed point on the short-run AS curve ........................................................................ 24
Aggregate demand ...................................................................................................... 26
The IS/LM model and aggregate demand .................................................................... 27
The quantity theory and aggregate demand .................................................................. 29
Static equilibrium....................................................................................................... 30
Shocks to aggregate demand ........................................................................................ 31
Shocks to aggregate supply .......................................................................................... 32
F. Dynamic Equilibrium in the AS/AD Model .......................................... 34
Why the AS curve shifts over time ................................................................................ 34

Why the AD curve shifts over time ............................................................................... 34

Equilibrium with growth and inflation ......................................................................... 35
A growth recession .................................................................................................. 37
G. A Preview of Romers Text from the Perspective of Aggregate
Supply/Demand ................................................................................. 38
Growth models ........................................................................................................... 38
Real business cycles..................................................................................................... 39
The IS/LM and Mundell-Fleming models ................................................................... 39
H. Suggestions for Further Reading ........................................................ 40
I. Works Cited in Text ......................................................................... 40

A. Topics and Tools

Several basic macroeconomic models are staples of introductory and intermediate macroeconomics textbooks. Romers text does not cover this basic material,
which most graduate students would be expected to know from their undergraduate
courses. This chapter attempts to fill that gap, providing brief and simple expositions
of these models as background for subsequent sections of the course.
The first model is the Keynesian multiplier, which was arguably the most important policy conclusion of Keyness General Theory. The second is the quantity theory of money, which predates Keynes and is a simple mechanism for adding a monetary asset into the model. We then consider the IS/LM model developed by Hicks
(1937), which became the standard exposition of Keynesian, aggregate-demandbased macroeconomics in the 1950s and 1960s. Finally, we consider a simple model
of aggregate demand and aggregate supply.
These models are not built on rigorous foundations of well specified maximization behavior; hence they have largely been abandoned by todays academic macroeconomists. However, they are of interest to us for two main reasons. First, they are
an important part of the historical evolution of macroeconomics and are part of the
basic lexicon of macroeconomists. Second, purely because of their simplicity, these
models are sometimes more useful than more elaborate micro-based models for explaining changes in the macroeconomy.

B. Income, Expenditures, and the Keynesian Multiplier

In undergraduate macroeconomics courses that begin with the study of short-run
fluctuations, the usual starting point is the income-expenditure model that leads to the
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basic Keynesian expenditure multiplier. This model achieved fame through its exposition in Chapter 10 of Keyness General Theory, although Keynes points out that the
idea of the multiplier originates with R. F. Kahn (1931). Kahn and Keynes were
writing in the midst of the Great Depression, when major economies had extensive
unutilized productive capacity and prices were falling. This led to a set of assumptions that are unreasonable when applied to a normal economy near full employment, but that are more realistic in the context in which they were proposed.
The central point in Keyness analysis is the importance of what he called effective demand, and we now call aggregate demand. His model assumes that the
economys real output is determined principally (or in simple versions, solely) by the
quantity of goods and services that people want to buy rather than by the economys
capacity to produce. Any increase in desired expenditures is assumed to lead to an
1
increase in firms production, but not to any increase in prices. This assumption is
plausible for a depression economy, in a situation with high levels of unemployed
labor and underutilized plant capacity. But it would not be appropriate for an economy operating near or above capacity.
Under the assumption of perfectly elastic supply, any increase in spending on
domestically produced (i.e., not foreign) goods, whether from an increase in business
investment, government spending, or net exports, leads to an increase in output. The
Keynesian expenditure multiplier recognizes that this expenditure-induced increase
in output is simultaneously an increase in the incomes of those who produce the additional goods. Those whose incomes increase can be expected to increase their own
spending, leading to a second round of stimulus to output and income. This is, of
course, followed by a third round as those who produce goods that are newly demanded at the second round see rises in their incomes and choose to increase spending as a result, and by further rounds of spending increases ad infinitum.
Each successive round of increase in spending is smaller than its predecessor as
long as people spend only part of the increase in their incomes. Under simple assumptions (such as a constant marginal spending share that is less than one), the increments to spending of successive rounds die away to zero and the ultimate increase
in output, income, and spending approaches a finite multiple of the original increase
in spendingthe Keynesian expenditure multiplier.

The multiplier process in math terms

A simple mathematical model (often called the income-expenditure model) is often
used to illustrate the process. Suppose that output Y is determined solely by desired
spending, which consists of consumption expenditures C, business investment spending I, and government expenditures G. We ignore imports and exports for simplicity,
1

Later in this chapter, we will characterize this assumption as a perfectly elastic short-run
aggregate-supply curve.

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and we will also take investment and government spending as exogenous variables.
We can express the determination of output as
Y = C + I + G.

(1)

Recall that we are assuming that I and G are exogenous, and thus unaffected by
our other variables Y and C. We further assume that consumption depends positively
on income and that a one-dollar increase in income leads to less than one dollar of
increase in desired consumption.

C = + Y ,

(2)

with 0 < < 1. The coefficient in equation (2), which measures C/Y, plays a central in the multiplier; Keynes named the marginal propensity to consume.
Using equations (1) and (2) to tell the story we sketched above, suppose that either I or G goes up by $1,000. (It doesnt matter in this model which kind of expenditure increases, it could even be an increase in consumption through a change in the
coefficient.) From (1) we know that output and income will increase initially by
$1,000. But from equation (2), consumers will respond to this increase in their incomes by raising consumption by $1,000, which will again increase output and
income by a like amount.
Output has risen by $1,000 + $1,000 at this point, but we are not finished. In
the second round, consumers will increase spending by times the first-round increase in their incomes, or $1,000 = 2 $1,000, leading to a further rise in
income of this amount. This then leads to another rise in consumption and income of
3 $1,000, and then to an increase of 4 $1,000, and so on.
Eventually, the rise in income in the economy is

Y=

(1 + +

+ 3 + 4 + ...) $1,000.

(3)

The parenthetical expression in equation (3) is a geometric series; basic algebra tells
us that its sum is

1 + + 2 + 3 + ... =

1
,
1

thus

Y=

1
$1,000
1
2-4

(4)

and the multiplier is

1
. If the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) is 0.75,
1

then the multiplier is 1/0.25 = 4 and each additional dollar of investment or government spending eventually leads to four dollars of additional spending, production,
and income.

More direct derivation: Solving the model

We can derive the multiplier in a more direct, but less intuitive, way by simply
solving equations (1) and (2) for the endogenous variables Y and C. In terms discussed in Chapter 1 of the coursebook, we can solve the model for its reduced form.
To do this, substitute equation (2) into (1) to get

Y = + Y + I + G

(5)

and bring the Y term to the left side to get

Y Y = (1 )Y = + I + G.
Dividing by (1 ) yields the reduced-form solution for Y:

=
Y

1
( + I + G ).
1

(6)

From equation (6), we see that any increase in , I, or G leads to an increase of Y

that is

Y Y
1
1
times as large. In terms of calculus, the multiplier is = =
.
I G 1
1

This is the same multiplier expression that we derived through the iterative, conceptual experiment leading to equation (4).

Graphical analysis of the income-expenditure model

Introductory macroeconomics textbooks often describe the income-expenditure
model and the multiplier using a graph with desired expenditures on the vertical axis
and income on the horizontal axis. From equation (5), desired expenditures are an
increasing linear function of income, as shown by the curve labeled E in Figure 1.
The model is in equilibrium when desired expenditures equal income, which
happens on the line through the origin with slope of onethe 45-degree line in Figure 1. Equilibrium thus occurs where the desired-expenditure line intersects the 45degree line at income level Y*. This diagram is often called the Keynesian cross.
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Desired
Expenditures

45-degree line
E

Y*

Y*

Income

Figure 1. Income-expenditure model equilibrium

To see that the multiplier is greater than one, consider the effect on equilibrium
income of an upward shift in the E curve, such as would occur if investment or government spending were to rise. Figure 2 shows the effect of a small increase in government spending, represented by the small arrow marked G. The increase in government spending shifts the desired expenditure curve parallel upward by that
amount, as shown by the E curve.
The upward shift of amount G in the expenditure curve raises the equilibrium
level of income from Y* to Y, an amount shown by the Y arrow in Figure 2. It is
evident that the change in income is much larger than the original change in government spending because of the multiplier. The ratio of the length of the Y arrow
to the G arrow is the expenditure multiplier.

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Desired
Expenditures

45-degree line
E
E

Y
Y
Y*

Y*

Income

Figure 2. Keynesian multiplier

Before leaving the income-expenditure model, it is important to reiterate both its
implications and its limitations. In an economic environment such as the Great Depression with many unemployed workers and extensive idle plant capacity, producers are likely to respond to increases in demand by raising output not price. In this
setting, the multiplier analysis shows that an exogenous stimulus to expenditures can
lead to a magnified effect on GDP. This is the argument behind using fiscal policy
some combination of increases in government spending and reductions in taxes to
increase consumptionto combat economic slumps. It was this analysis that underlay the stimulus package (formally, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
of 2009) that was enacted in February 2009 to mitigate the adverse effects of the financial crisis on the macroeconomy.
However, the income-expenditure model makes two crucial assumptions that are
unlikely to hold when the economy is near full employment. First, we must assume
that the increase in government spending does not displace any private spending.
Assuming that taxes are not raised (which would in itself probably offset much of the
stimulus), the increase in spending is likely financed by raising government borrowing. Depending on conditions in financial markets, this increase in borrowing might
raise interest rates, making it more expensive for private firms to borrow to build factories and for households to borrow for purchases of cars and houses. This effect is
modeled in the IS/LM model that we discuss later in this chapter. If private spending
goes down when government spending rises, then the net increase in spending may
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be much smaller, reducing the stimulative effect on output. However, in both the
Great Depression and the 2009 stimulus, interest rates were very low and did not
seem to rise when government spending rose.
The second crucial assumption is that firms respond to increased demand solely
by raising output. We argued above that this assumption was reasonable (at least as a
first approximation) during the Great Depression, but firms that are near their optimal production capacity are likely to respond to a rise in demand by increasing their
prices more than by increasing output. If this happens, then the stimulative effect of
increased government spending will be dissipated on price increases rather than expansion of real output. We shall see this later in this chapter when we discuss the
slope of the aggregate-supply curve and its effect on the responses of output and prices to changes in aggregate demand.
In the recent recession, the magnitude of fiscal-policy multipliers was a controversial and heavily studied topic. Three articles in the September 2011 issue of Journal of Economic Literature provide a good sample from different ideological and methodological perspectives: Taylor (2011), Parker (2011), and Ramey (2011).
Expenditure multipliers are also often used by urban economists to analyze the
secondary effects of activities that boost local spending, such as a large public-works
project, the movement into the area of a large new plant, or the creation, attraction,
or retention of a new professional sports franchise. In each case, expenditures by
those who earn income from the initial activity lead to secondary income effects.
However, to evaluate local effects, one must be careful to restrict the MPC to include
only income-induced expenditures on local goods and services.

C. The Quantity Theory of Money

The quantity theory of money, or just quantity theory for short, is even older
than the Keynesian multiplier. It was central to the classical economics paradigm
against which the Keynesian revolution rebelled. Among the most cited expositions
of classical macroeconomics and the quantity theory are those of Irving Fisher (1913)
and A. C. Pigou (1933).
On the micro side, classical economics developed the model we now know as
general-equilibrium theory. This theory uses supply and demand curves for individual commodities and resources to predict the equilibrium quantities and relative prices
of everything, including all goods and services, labor, and capital resources, including future goods as well as present ones. There was one notable missing link on this
classical microeconomic model; it did not explain how the overall general price level
was determined. In other words, it could explain using demand and supply curves
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whether asparagus should be expensive or cheap relative to other goodsthe relative price of asparagusbut it could not tie down that price in absolute dollar terms.
What was required to fill in this missing link was to determine the value, or price,
of money in terms of goods, which is the reciprocal of the price of goods in terms of
money, which we call the general price level. Given that supply and demand analysis determined the value of all of the other goods in the model, it made sense to consider the supply of and demand for money as determinants of the value of money.
Before proceeding to discuss the supply and demand for money, we must clarify
2
that money is a stock rather than a flow. When we talk about the supply of money
we are talking about the current available stock of whatever monetary assets are used
in the economy. For example, if money is just dollar bills, the supply of money is the
total number of dollar bills that are held in the economy at a moment of time: add up
the number in your wallet and the wallets and cash drawers of all of the households
and firms in the economy. Similarly, the demand for money is the amount of its total
stock of wealth that households and firms want to hold in the form of the monetary
asset. When thinking of the demand for money we should think in terms of our desire to hold cash vs. other kinds of assets such as bonds, stock, or physical assets.

Money supply and demand

The quantity theory treats the supply of money as exogenous. In the goldstandard era (when the model was created), the stock of money mainly depended on
the quantity of monetary gold circulating in the economy. The monetary gold stock
changed largely as a result of mining activity that created new gold or of imbalances
in foreign trade that led to gold leaving or entering the economy from abroad. In
modern economies, we think of the stock of monetary assets as being determined by
a process driven by a central bank that, as an initial approximation, can be considered to set the money supply exogenously.
The demand for money is decided by the households and firms that hold it, balancing the costs and benefits of holding money against those of other assets. The distinctive characteristic of money as an asset is that it is used in transactions as a means
of payment to buy and sell other goods and services. Thus the primary determinant of
the demand for money in both classical and modern models is the dollar volume of
transactions in the economy. In the basic formulation of the quantity theory money
demand is assumed to be mathematically proportional to transaction volume. More
sophisticated models also incorporate the cost of holding money, of which the main
component is the forgone interest or other return that could be earned on nonmonetary assets. We will defer discussion of these models until later.

In later chapters we shall examine in more detail the characteristics of the assets that we
classify as money and what assets have those characteristics.

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Equation of exchange
The central mathematical expression of the quantity theory is the equation of
exchange: MV = PY. Both sides measure total nominal (dollar) transactions in the
economy, so the equation is a tautology that must always hold. To make it a theory,
we add assumptions about the causal relationships among the variables.
The right-hand side of the equation PY is the product of the price level and real
GDP, which is just nominal GDP. This is the dollar value of all final goods and services produced and purchased in the economy during the yearthe dollar value of
all final transactions.
The left-hand side is the product of the money stock, which is assumed to be exogenous, and the income velocity of money V. Income velocity is the number of
times that the average dollar in the economy is spent on final goods and services dur3
ing a year. The product of the number of dollars times the number of times the average dollar is spent during the year must equal the total volume of dollar spending, so
MV always equals PY by construction.
Because M is a stock and PY is a flow, velocity must be doing something to translate between stocks and flows. To see how this works, consider the units in which the
variables are measured. Y is a flow of goods per year and P is the price level measured in dollars per good, so the measurement unit of their product is dollars per year.
The money stock M is measured in dollars, with no time unit at all. Velocity is a
number of times per year, so its units are 1/years. Multiplying M by V converts it
from a stock to a flow with units of dollars per year, matching the units of the righthand side.
Velocity reflects (inversely) peoples demand for money, given their transaction
flow. A higher velocity corresponds to making a given quantity of money perform
more transactions, so high velocity reflects a low desire to hold money. We can represent the nominal demand for money in the equation of exchange as

Md =

PY
,
V

(7)

so the equation of exchange shows how velocity and transactions volume work to
determine how much money people want to hold.

We must make sure that the collection of transactions that are counted on the left-hand side
matches the collection counted on the right. Because Y includes only final goods and services,
we use income velocity on the left rather than the more intuitive transactions velocity,
which would count monetary expenditures on intermediate goods as well as final goods.

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The quantity theory

The quantity theory makes assumptions about how the four variables in the
equation of exchange are determined. The supply of money M is assumed to be exogenously determined by the central bank (or the gold stock in classical times).
Real output Y is assumed to be the aggregation of the quantities of individual
goods and services determined by the interaction of demand and supply equations in
individual markets. This is the natural or potential level of output in the economy, a concept that we shall use frequently in this course. In contrast to Keyness assumption that real output is determined wholly by aggregate demand, the quantity
theory assumes that only aggregate-supply factors matter; real output does not depend in any important way on the price level, the money supply, or velocity.
We established above that the demand for money should depend on the costs
and benefits of holding money. The benefits are facilitation of transactions, which is
represented by the PY expression in the numerator of equation (7). Any effects of the
cost of money holding, such as the forgone interest on other assets, would have to
affect money demand by changing velocity in this formulation.
In the simple form of the quantity theory, classical economists treated V as a constant. They recognized that different economies might have different monetary institutions that would allow them to use money more or less efficiently and lead to a
higher or lower V (consider ATMs in the modern context). But they argued that
these institutional characteristics of the monetary system were unlikely to change
easily or quickly, so they claimed that V could reasonably be assumed not to change
in response to shocks such as changes in the money supply.
Having provided theories for how M, Y, and V are determined, all that remains is
to consider P, the general price level. The quantity theory asserts that P is determined
by the equation of exchange, with M, Y, and V taking on given values as discussed
above. Thus, the quantity theory is a causal version of the equation of exchange, stating that P will be

P=

MV
Y

(8)

with the variables on the right-hand side all being determined independently.
The principal implication of the quantity theory is that money is neutral, which
means that changes in the nominal quantity of money lead to proportional increases
in prices (as well as wages, nominal exchange rates, and any other dollar magnitudes
in the economy) and leave all real variables such as output and employment (and
the real wage, measured in terms of purchasing power) unchanged. In terms of elasticities, the elasticity of the price level with respect to the money supply is one and
the elasticity of output with respect to the money supply is zero.
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Keynes and the classics

The quantity theory offered no clue about why high unemployment might persist
as it did during the Great Depression. Classical economists could only assert that
adjustment to the inevitable full-employment equilibrium was very slow. The quantity theory is also very pessimistic about the prospect that government policies might
mitigate the slump in output. If money is neutral, as their theory asserts, then monetary policy is useless because it does not affect real output.
Moreover, classical economics saw no role for fiscal policy in relieving a depression. In their model, any expansion in government activity would simply divert what
production was occurring away from private buyers; output was fixed by microeconomic factors beyond the influence of blunt macroeconomic instruments such as
government spending and the overall level of taxes.
The crucial difference between the income-expenditure model and the quantity
theory lies in how output is determined. In the former, desired aggregate spending
(aggregate demand) is the sole determinant of outputfirms in the aggregate will
produce whatever amount they can sell. In the latter, production levels are determined by the economys resources of labor and capital and by the technological
knowledge that is available for using them in productionthere is no role for aggregate demand because aggregate supply is perfectly inelastic.
Modern macroeconomic models recognize that neither a perfectly elastic nor a
perfectly inelastic aggregate-supply curve explains the economy well. As we will examine below in this chapter, and in great detail later in the course, modern macroeconomic models typically feature an upward-sloping short-run aggregate-supply
curve, allowing aggregate demand a rolebut not the sole rolein determining the
amount produced in the short run. But the long-run aggregate-supply curve is usually
assumed to be perfectly inelastic: in the long run, the quantity theory is approximately correct, money is neutral, and monetary and fiscal policy do not influence aggregate output.

D. The IS/LM Model

The multiplier analysis of the income-expenditure model gained widespread acceptance after its publication in the early 1930s. Its explanation of the causes of and
potential solution to the Great Depression resonated with those who despaired at the
laissez-faire mantra of classical economics. But even its proponents recognized that
several mitigating factors would cause the actual effect of an increase in expenditures
to be smaller than the simple multiplier suggests.

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Keynes pointed out many of these factors in the General Theory, but did not integrate them mathematically. The Keynesian consensus of the 1940s through 1960s
formed around a simple version of the Keyness analysis developed by Sir John
Hicks (1937). Hickss simple model leaves out much of the detail of Keyness complex and nuanced (if often ambiguous and seemingly contradictory) text, but Keynes
himself allegedly acknowledged that Hicks had faithfully captured the most essential
characteristics of his theory. Axel Leijonhufvud (1968) provides a detailed comparison of the IS/LM model and other Keynesian models with the theory of Keynes,
as exposited in the text of the General Theory.
The income-expenditure model of section B is embedded in the IS curve of the
IS/LM model. Instead of taking investment spending as an exogenous variable, the
IS curve models it as depending on the real interest rate. This brings the interest rate
into the model as a second endogenous variable (alongside income), which requires
us to add a second equation to explain how interest rates relate to real output.
Although the IS/LM model generalizes the income-expenditure framework to a
limited extent, it still models income-determination strictly through aggregate demandfirms are assumed to produce whatever amount of output people want to buy
at a fixed price level. After we examine the IS/LM framework in this section, we will
explore briefly how a more realistic theory of aggregate supply can be combined with
aggregate demand in a more general model.

The structure of the model

The IS/LM model approaches aggregate demand through two equilibrium conditions:
The IS curve incorporates the income-expenditure model and describes conditions under which the flow demand for investment funds equals the economy-wide flow supply of saving (hence the I and S in the name).
The LM curve describes equilibrium between the stock of real money balances and the demand for them (which Keynes called liquidity preference,
providing the L in LM).
Note the distinction between flow and stock equilibria in the model. The IS curve
relates to the flows of spending, saving, and production; the LM curve pertains to the
stocks of money, bonds, and wealth. The former is about the earning and spending of
income and, through saving, about the rate at which households accumulate wealth.
The latter is about the form in which this accumulated wealth is held: whether in the
form of money or in interest-earning assets such as bonds.
Both stock and flow equilibrium depend on both the interest rate and income.
The IS and LM curves are drawn with real income/output on the horizontal axis and
the interest rate on the vertical. The IS curve relates equilibrium expenditures to the
real interest rate; the LM curve describes equilibrium in asset holding in terms of the
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nominal interest rate. One can put either the real or nominal interest rate on the vertical axis, but in either case one of the curves must be adjusted to account for the expected rate of inflationthe difference between the nominal and real interest rates.
There is no standard among textbooks about which convention to use; many inferior
texts ignore the distinction entirely. In this analysis, we will use the real interest rate r
on the vertical axis.

Expenditure equilibrium and the IS curve

The IS curve generalizes the income-expenditure model by considering the ways
in which other variables, notably including the real interest rate, affect the desiredexpenditure curve E in Figure 1. In general, anything (other than income itself) that
causes desired expenditures to change will shift the E curve upward or downward
and cause a (multiplied) change in equilibrium spending.
The real interest rate r is one of the variables that affects desired expenditures, so
the equilibrium level of income in the income-expenditure model depends on the level of r. Without (for now) deriving the theory from rigorous individual-choice foundations, it is reasonable to assert that both the consumption and investment components of desired expenditures are likely to be negatively related to real interest rates.
A higher real interest rate increases the reward to saving, leading to a substitution
effect away from current consumption spending (and toward future consumption),
reducing C. Purchases of consumer durables, which are often financed explicitly by
borrowing, are especially likely to be interest-sensitive because people will easily recognize the effect of a higher interest rate on their monthly loan payments. The real
interest rate also measures the cost (either directly, if the firm borrows, or as an implicit opportunity cost) of business investment in plant and equipment, so an increase
in interest rates is likely to lower firms desired spending I on new capital goods.
A higher real interest rate implies lower desired expenditures, so it shifts the desired-expenditure curve in the income-expenditure diagram downward, leading to a
(multiplied) contraction of aggregate demand and GDP. The downward-sloping
curve that plots the effect of the real interest rate (on the vertical axis) on the level of
4
equilibrium income (on the horizontal axis) is called the IS curve.
Anything other than income or the interest rate that affects desired expenditures
will cause the IS curve to shift to the right (for an increase) or the left (for a decrease).
Among the variables that would lead to IS shifts are:
4

Hickss derivation of the IS curve used investment = saving as the condition for equilibrium;
we have used income = expenditures. Ignoring government, Y = C + I is our condition for
income = expenditures. Since households allocate their current income between consumption
and saving, Y = C + S. Setting these two equations equal to one another, equilibrium between
expenditures and income can also be written as I = S, which is the form used by Hicks, leading him to call the resulting curve the IS curve.

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Government expenditures. An increase in government expenditures (holding taxes constant) raises the demand for goods and services directly, pushing
the desired expenditure curve up and the IS curve to the right. This effect
might be mitigated to some extent by reductions in private spending if (1) the
goods that the government buys are direct substitutes for consumer spending
(for example, police for private security or school lunches for parent-provided
food), or (2) households anticipate (as in the Ramsey and Diamond growth
models that we will study in Romers Chapter 2) that the rise in government
spending will lead to increases in future taxes, causing them to reduce consumption expenditures to set aside money for their future tax obligations.
Taxes. An increase in taxes (holding government spending constant) should
lower private spending, pushing the desired-expenditure curve downward
and the IS curve to the left. Again, we shall have more to say about this when
we study the Ramsey and Diamond models. If households behave strictly according to lifetime-utility maximization and other special conditions hold,
then they will recognize that government borrowing today must be repaid by
higher taxes in the future. This situation is called Ricardian equivalence,
and if it holds perfectly, then the timing of taxes will be irrelevant and changes in todays taxes would not affect private spending. However, there are
many reasons to be skeptical about Ricardian equivalence and most
Keynesians ignore this possibility.
Optimism about the future. If expected future income were to increase,
households lifetime budget constraints would shift outward, leading them (to
the extent that credit markets allow them to borrow against the higher future
income) to increase current consumption. Expectations of future demand
may also have a strong effect on firms capital-investment decisions because
many capital projects have long gestation lags between the time the decision to invest is made and the time that the new plant is put into production.
Optimism about future demand (Keynes famously called these expectations
animal spirits) affects expected future production, which drives the need
for capital in the future.

More detailed models of consumption and investment spending are the subject of
Romers Chapters 8 and 9, and are discussed in Chapters 15 and 16 of the coursebook.

Asset equilibrium and the LM curve

The IS curve gives us one relationship between r and Y based on equilibrium between the flows of income and desired expenditures. If we knew the level of r we
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could use the IS curve to figure out what the equilibrium Y must be, or vice versa. But
in order to determine the levels of both variables, we need a second equilibrium relationship. We seek the needed relationship by examining the equilibrium between the
stock supplies of monetary and non-monetary assets and the demand for these assets.
The traditional way to characterize the asset-equilibrium relationship is the LM
curve, describing the conditions leading the quantity of money demanded by households and firms to equal the quantity supplied by the central bank and the financial
system. Since the demand for money depends on the interest rate (negatively) and
income (positively), there are many alternative combinations of r and Y for which the
demand will equal any given level of money supply. This upward-sloping collection
of (Y, r) pairs is the LM curve.
The LM analysis was developed to describe a financial system in which the time
path of the money stock is exogenously determined by the institutions of monetary
supply, either through the rules of the gold standard or by the decisions of a central
bank that sets a target level or growth rate for the money stock. Under such a regime,
the short-term interest rate adjusts in order to balance endogenous money demand
with the exogenous quantity supplied.
The IS/LM analysis has fallen out of favoreven among Keynesian macroeconomists who do not object to the absence of microfoundationsbecause most
modern central banks no longer set monetary policy according to money-supply or
money-growth targets. Instead, most now follow policies that target a specific shortterm interest rate and allow the money supply to adjust to whatever level achieves
5
balances asset markets at the desired interest-rate target. This makes the money supply endogenous and suggests that we should model the central banks decision rule
for setting the interest rate as our second curve. We shall study a variant of this kind,
the IS/MP model, when we get to Romers Chapter 6. For now, we explore the historically important IS/LM model.
If the income velocity of money is constant, as we assumed in the quantity theory, then the nominal demand for money is given by equation (7). But Keynes (and
some classical economists before him) noted that the interest rate should affect the
share of peoples wealth that they want to hold in the form of money. In the simplest
setting, bonds (and other assets) bear interest at real rate r and nominal rate i = r + ,
where is the rate of inflation (actual or expected, we do not distinguish between
them here for simplicity). Moneythink gold or currency herebears zero nominal
interest, and its real return is ; moneys real value depreciates at the rate of inflation.

The Federal Reserve Board in the United States last followed a strict monetary rule between
1979 and 1982. Since then, interest-rate targets have been more important.

2 - 16

The difference between the rate of interest on bonds and the rate of interest on
money is the opportunity cost of holding wealth as money rather than as bonds. This
6
difference equals the nominal rate of interest on bonds. A higher nominal interest
rate should cause households to economize on money holdings (choosing to shift
wealth into bonds), turning over their dollars more quickly in order to make their
needed transactions. In other words, when the interest rate rises people will increase
their velocity of money.
We can incorporate this effect into equation (7) very simply:
Md =

PY
,
V ( r + )

(9)

where V ( r + ) is velocity written as a function of the nominal interest rate with the
assumption that V ( r + ) > 0 . Equation (9) is usually rewritten in terms of the demand for real money balances M/P. Dividing both sides by P yields

Md
Y
=
L (Y , r + ) ,
P
V ( r + )

(10)

where the L function is Keyness liquidity preference function.

From equation (10) to the equation for the LM curve is a small step: setting the
amount of real money that people want to hold (from (10)) equal to the exogenous
real supply of money provided by the central bank (or the stock of monetary gold).
Taking M s as exogenous and assuming that P is also givenbecause we are still assuming that producers supply output perfectly elastically at the given price levelthe
LM curve is given by

Ms
Y
.
=
P V ( r + )

(11)

In equation (11), is the underlying or expected rate of inflation. We take this

variable to be exogenous as well, so the only two endogenous variables in (11) are Y
and r. This, then, is the second equation that we require to work alongside the IS
curve to determine the equilibrium values of Y and r.
6

The difference between the nominal returns on bonds and money is i 0 = i. The difference
between the real returns is r () = i + = i. Thus we get the same answer whether we
calculate the difference between bonds and money in nominal returns or real returns.

2 - 17

Whereas the IS curve was shown to slope downward, we can easily demonstrate
that the LM curve must slope upward. Suppose that income in the economy were to
increase. This would mean more real transactions and would induce people to want
to hold greater money balances. (The right-hand side of (11) would increase.) With a
given supply of money and a given price level, the only way to rebalance equation
(11) would be through a change in r. To offset the increase in money demand arising
from higher income, the interest rate would have to increase in order to raise velocity
so that the denominator of (11) rises to match the increase in the numerator. Thus,
the LM curve must slope upward: other things held constant, an increase in real income requires an increase in the interest rate in order to rebalance money demand
with money supply.

Equilibrium in the IS/LM model

Intermediate macroeconomics texts (such the Mankiw and Burda/Wyplosz texts
recommended on the reading list) analyze the basic structure of the IS/LM model in
great detail. The LM curve slopes upward and the IS curve slopes downward in (Y, r)
space, so there is a unique intersection. This IS/LM equilibrium determines the values of Y and r that are consistent with equilibrium expenditures and money holding,
given the levels of P, G, T, M, , and anything else that affects either desired expenditures or the velocity function. Equilibrium is shown in Figure 3.
Anything that shifts either the IS or the LM curve will change the equilibrium
point in Figure 3. Some of the more commonly discussed changes are described in
Table 1, assuming the usual shapes and slopes for the curves.

LM(M/P, )

r*

IS(G, T, Ye)

Yd
Figure 3. IS/LM equilibrium
2 - 18

Table 1. Effects in traditional IS/LM model

Change:
Increase in government spending
Increase in taxes
Increase in expected future Y
Increase in money supply
Increase in current price level
Increase in inflation expectations

Effect
on IS
right
left
right
none
none
none

Effect
on LM
none
none
none
right
left
down

Effect
on Y
+

+
+

Effect
on r
+

Several points and special cases in Table 1 are worth noting:

All of the changes listed affect only one of the curves, not both. This makes
the IS/LM decomposition of the model useful because it allows us to infer
the effects of the change on Y and r unambiguously.

The position of the LM curve depends on the real money supply M s / P , so

changes of equal proportion in both M s and P exactly offset one another and
leave Y and r unchanged. This allows monetary neutrality to hold in the
IS/LM model if it is coupled with a vertical aggregate-supply curve that causes prices (rather than output) to rise in proportion to aggregate demand.
A one-percentage-point increase in inflation expectations leads to a downward shifts in the LM curve of exactly one percentage point. Unless prices
change (or unless the IS curve is vertical), this means that changes in inflation
expectations cause changes in real interest rates, violating the classical Fisher effect that such changes caused equal changes in the nominal rate leaving
the real rate unchanged.

E. Aggregate Demand and Supply

So far, we have examined three simple theories. All of these theories have focused on the demand side of the economy, although they have varied in the assumptions about aggregate supply with which they have usually been combined. The income-expenditure and IS/LM models were traditionally used to determine output
with a given price level (perfectly elastic aggregate-supply curve); the quantity theory
of money assumed that output was given and used the model to determine the equilibrium price level (perfectly inelastic aggregate supply).
2 - 19

Whether we think of these models as determining Y given P or determining P

given Y, all three are basically models of aggregate demand. In this section, we combine aggregate demand with aggregate supply to examine the short-run and long-run
equilibrium of the macroeconomy.

Output and Prices

The central endogenous variables in aggregate supply-demand analysis are real
output and the general price level. With the assignment of quantity to the horizontal
axis and price to the vertical axis, the AS/AD model resembles the familiar supplydemand model of perfect competition. Indeed they are very similar in some ways,
however it is extremely important not to push the parallels too far; some properties of
the curves and models are very different.
There are important differences between the variables Y and P on the axes of the
AS/AD model and the familiar quantity and price variables of microeconomics. The
quantity variable Y on the horizontal axis of the AS/AD model measures the total
output of the economy (real GDP) rather than the physical output of some specific
commodity. This leads to important differences in the interpretation of the curves.
For example, the demand curve for zucchini slopes downward because consumers
will substitute other foods as zucchini get expensive. In the macro model, GDP is all
7

goods, so there is nothing obvious to substitute for GDP if it gets expensive. Thus,
in the macro context we cannot rely on the familiar logic of substitution to motivate
the negative slope of the demand curve.
The price variable P on the vertical axis is also fundamentally different. In the
AS/AD model, price refers to the aggregate price of all goods and servicesa price
index like the GDP deflatorrather than the relative price of zucchini as in the micro
model. Again, this has important implications for the behavior of the curves. An increase in all prices may not have any effect on either quantity supplied or quantity
demanded if, along with the increase in prices, nominal wages and nominal stocks of
assets such as money all increase in equal proportion. This is the familiar principle
that the economy exhibits no money illusionpeople care only about the real value of
things, not about the number of dollars attached to them. If all dollar labels are redefined in a proportional way, nothing is more or less expensive than before and there
is no reason for real purchases or sales to change.

Levels or growth rates?

The simplest form of the AS/AD model puts the level of real GDP on the horizontal axis and the level of prices on the vertical axis. Constructing the model in
terms of levels has the advantage of simplicity: the point of intersection defines a
7

Future goods and foreign goods are possible substitutes. Well have more to say about such
issues later on.

2 - 20

unique equilibrium level of output and prices. This is the most common form of the
model and is adequate as a momentary snapshot of the macroeconomy.
However, modern economies typically exhibit year-to-year growth in real output
and year-to-year inflation in the price level rather than levels that stay constant over
time. We are often more interested in these rates of change than in the absolute level
of GDP and prices. To capture this ongoing behavior in the levels version of the
AS/AD model, the equilibrium point would be moving upward and to the right
8
over time. We can keep the model in terms of levels only if we are willing to discard
the notion of a fixed point of long-run equilibrium and depict the long run as an equilibrium growth/inflation path involving a sequence (or continuum) of points of momentary equilibrium.
An alternative modeling strategy is to put the growth rate of output on the horizontal axis and/or the inflation rate on the vertical axis, modeling aggregate supply
and aggregate demand in terms of percentage changes rather than levels of output
and/or prices. By recasting the model in terms of rates of change, the economy may
converge to a single point of long-run equilibrium on the graph: one where the
growth rate of output and the rate of inflation are constant.
However, there are difficulties with casting the model in rates of change as well.
Putting the graphical analysis entirely in terms of growth rates means that there is no
information on the graph about the level of output. Suppose that last years growth
rate was unusually low, so the current level of output in the economy is below its
long-run growth trend. Conventional macroeconomic theory suggests that such an
economy would be expected to grow more quickly in the coming years to recover
toward the trend path. On the graph, this means that aggregate supply or aggregate
demand (or both) must shift to the right when output is below trend in order to increase growth. In order to incorporate this into the graph, the position of the AD and
AS curves must depend on the current level of GDP relative to a benchmark trend.
We shall model aggregate supply and demand in levels rather than growth rates.
In the simple model that we introduce first, we ignore the tendency of output and
prices to grow over the long run. Later in this chapter we will consider the nature of
equilibrium behavior with growth and inflation.
In competitive microeconomic markets we use the supply curve and the demand
curve to represent, respectively, the behavior of the producers and buyers of a commodity. By examining the interaction of the two curves and imposing an assumption
that the price adjusts to clear the market, we model the equilibrium levels of quantity
exchanged and price at the intersection of the two curves.
The aggregate supply (AS) curve and aggregate demand (AD) curve perform similar roles for the aggregate macroeconomy. The AS curve summarizes the behavior
8

Or downward in the case of deflation and to the left in the case of economic contraction.

2 - 21

of the production side of the market: production decisions of firms and activities in
the markets for factor inputs. The AD curve summarizes desired purchases in the
macroeconomy and activities in asset markets that influence demand behavior.
Like microeconomic supply curves, the AS curve often slopes upward, though
the underlying logic justifying its shape is quite different. The AS curve is horizontal
or vertical under some conditions. Unlike microeconomic supply curves, which tend
to me more elastic in the long run than in the short run, the AS curve is perfectly inelastic (vertical) in the long run and may be highly elastic (flat) in the short run.
The AD curve is generally downward-sloping, just as the microeconomic demand curve is, but again the reasons for the negative slope and the conditions under
which it is elastic or inelastic are quite different.

Aggregate supply and the natural level of output

In microeconomic markets, the positive slope of the supply curve is very natural.
If a single good becomes more valuable relative to other goods (i.e., its relative price
increases) then firms in the economy will devote more of their productive activity to
producing that good, taking resources away from production of other goods.
However, this logic does not work the same way in the aggregate macroeconomy. A price increase in the macroeconomy means that the prices of all goods have
increased. Will this across-the-board price increase impel firms to use more resources
to produce goods and services? Maybe, but not necessarily.
The benchmark model of neoclassical economics is the perfectly competitive
general-equilibrium (PCGE) model. This is the core model of most microeconomics
courses; it is the model that most economists think of first when trying to answer
questions about market economies.
In the PCGE model, the prices of all goods and inputs are perfectly flexible, all
agents are perfectly informed, entry and exit are costless, and no one has any market
power. Because buyers and sellers are price-takers, there are well-defined demand
and supply curves relating quantities demanded and supplied to price. The quantity
of each good and service produced and sold is determined uniquely by the point of
intersection of the supply and demand curves.
If we were to add up the real value of all of the commodities produced in equilibrium of the PCGE model, we would obtain a unique value of GDP that reflects the
equilibrium amount of production. This unique equilibrium quantity of aggregate
output in the PCGE model is called the natural level of output, or sometimes capacity output or full-employment output. Theorems of welfare economics assure us
that the competitive equilibrium allocation of resources (and therefore the amount
produced) is Pareto-optimal, given the amounts of factors of production that are
available and the utility-maximizing decisions by laborers about allocating their time
between work and leisure.

2 - 22

Although natural output is crucially important for macroeconomic theory and

policy, it cannot be directly observed or measured. Policymakers must try to estimate
the amount that could or should be produced with the current technology and resource endowments in order to know whether current actual output is too low or too
high.
The natural level of output does not depend on the dollar value of prices in any
way. PCGE determines an equilibrium relative price for each commodity. For example, equilibrium might require that apples be half as expensive as bananas and that
the real wage of unskilled labor be 10 apples per hour of work. However, whether
this is achieved by apples costing $0.10, bananas $0.20, and a nominal wage of $1.00
or by apples costing $500, bananas costing $1,000, and a nominal wage of $5,000 is
completely irrelevant to PCGE model equilibrium. The natural level of output can be
achieved at any aggregate price level.
If the world behaved according to the PCGE model, real GDP would always
equal the natural level of output (Yn) regardless of the nominal level of aggregate
prices in the economy. Thus, the assumptions of the PCGE model lead to a vertical
aggregate supply curve at Y = Yn.

Upward-sloping aggregate supply

Most macroeconomists believe that the PCGE model provides a reasonable approximation of macroeconomic behavior in the long run, when prices have time to
adjust fully and information becomes fully available, so we usually take the longrun aggregate supply curve to be vertical. This implies that output will return to the
natural level of output (full employment) in the long run as the equilibrating forces of
price movements and information pervasion pull the economy back to the vertical
9
long-run AS curve.
However, from a macroeconomic perspective, a vertical AS curve eliminates a
lot of interesting possibilities. With a vertical AS, the level of output is always at Yn
regardless of how the AD curve fluctuates: aggregate demand has no effect on output. Ever since Keyness analysis of the Great Depression, most economists have
been convinced that changes in aggregate demand do affect output, at least temporarily, thus the vertical AS curve seems like an inadequate description of macroeconomic supply behavior.

Of course, this assumes that there is no change over time in the determinants of natural output. If the labor force and capital stock increase and technology improves, then we expect the
natural level of output to increase, which will mean that the long-run AS curve is not stationary but instead shifts to the right over time. Thus, the long-run AS curve is long-run in the
sense that the economy moves toward it in the long run, but not in the sense that it remains
stable in the long run.

2 - 23

There are multitudes of theories explaining why the short-run AS curve might
slope upward. We will study several of these theories in Romers Chapter 6, so there
is no need to elaborate the details now. A couple of examples should demonstrate the
nature of elastic short-run supply.
One possibility is that firms face costs of changing their prices. These costs are
often called menu costs, as in the costs a restaurant faces when it must reprint
menus to reflect changed prices. In that case, if there is upward pressure on nominal
prices due to an increase in aggregate demand, some firms may choose not to raise
their prices immediately, even if other firms do raise their prices. The relative prices
charged by the firms that do not raise prices will be lower than before and they will
sell more output as a result. Thus, in the presence of menu costs, some firms will
raise prices and others will increase production, so in the aggregate there will be an
10
increase in both prices and output along an upward-sloping short-run AS curve.
Note that in this case we would expect all firms eventually to change their prices (once
the old menus wear out), so the justification for an upward-sloping AS curve holds
only in the short run. Even with menu costs, we still expect the long-run response to
be an increase in all nominal prices with production back at Yn, so the long-run AS
curve is vertical.
Another possibility is that some of the firms nominal costs fail to rise along with
prices. For example, if wages are set for a period of time by nominal (fixed-dollar)
contracts, an increase in prices (assuming no menu costs) would temporarily raise the
firms revenues relative to their (labor) costs. This would make it profitable to expand
output in the short run while this positive gap between revenues and costs exists.
Once again, production increases and prices rise in the short run, so the short-run AS
curve slopes upward. However, as in the previous example, we would expect production eventually to return to Yn at the higher price level. In this case, nominal wages
would rise when contracts expire and workers whose cost of living has increased bargain for a compensating wage increase. Thus, again, the long-run AS curve is vertical.

A fixed point on the short-run AS curve

The two simple aggregate-supply theories sketched above have several characteristics in common. As we shall see later, these characteristics are shared by most
short-run aggregate-supply models. Two important characteristics have been stressed

10

Note also that we have already strayed from one of the key assumptions of the PCGE model. A price-taking firm in a perfectly competitive market cannot defer its price change; it must
charge the market-clearing price. If a few firms kept their prices low in a perfectly competitive
market, all buyers would attempt to buy from them, forcing them to increase production
dramatically, which would increase costs and force them to raise prices.

2 - 24

above: (1) the short-run AS curve slopes upward and (2) the long-run AS curve is vertical at Yn.
A third property that connects the short-run and long-run supply curves is less
obvious: the short-run AS curve passes through the vertical long-run AS (Y = Yn) at
the expected price level. Thus, the point (Yn , P e ) always lies on the short-run AS curve.

We can explain the logic of this fixed point on the AS curve for the two simple
models discussed above. With menu costs, we assume that the prices that firms have
set for this period (and printed on their menus) are those that they expected to prevail
at the time the menus were printed. Thus, if aggregate demand turns out to be as expected, firms will have set the appropriate prices and the economy will be in PCGE
with P = Pe and Y = Yn. In the case discussed above, AD is higher than expected,
leading to P > Pe and Y > Yn.
In the wage-contract model, we assume that firms and workers try to set the
nominal wage in a way that leads to the PCGE real wage (W/P)*. If they expect the
price level to be Pe, then they set the nominal wage at W= P e (W / P ) * . If aggregate
demand is as expected and the price level actually turns out to be Pe, then the actual
real wage will be W / P e = (W / P ) * and the economy will be in PCGE. If aggregate
demand is unexpectedly high and the price level exceeds Pe then the real wage will be
lower than (W/P)* and firms will expand production.
To summarize the conventional properties of aggregate supply, as depicted in
Figure 4:
The long-run AS curve is vertical at Y = Yn. In the long run, changes in aggregate demand affect only the price level and not the level of real output.
The short-run AS curve slopes upward and passes through the point where
Y = Yn and P = Pe. In the short run, increases in aggregate demand lead to increases in both price and real output.

2 - 25

LRAS
SRAS

Pe

Yn

Figure 4. Short-run and long-run aggregate supply curves

Aggregate demand
The aggregate-demand curve summarizes the desired spending behavior of consumers, firms investing in durable plant and equipment, governments, and (in an
open economy) foreigners. There are many ways to model aggregate demandthe
income-expenditure model, IS/LM model, and quantity theory equation are three of
the most common. In many of our more complex models later in the course we use a
simple place holder for AD and focus on the details of aggregate supply. The closer focus on aggregate supply is because alternative aggregate-demand theories tend to
have similar outcomes whereas the supply side has been highly controversial.
Aggregate demand rises when households, firms, and governments decide to increase their expenditures. There are many reasons why this could happen: increased
optimism by households about their lifetime incomes, increased optimism by firms
about their need for plant and equipment, stimulative fiscal policy that increases government purchases directly or lowers taxes to stimulate private spending, a depreciation of the dollar that makes domestic goods cheaper for foreign buyers, etc.
In macroeconomics, emphasis is often placed on the effects of monetary conditions and monetary policy on aggregate demand. As we shall discuss briefly later in
the course, an expansionary monetary policy involves the central bank (the Federal
2 - 26

Reserve System in the United States) increasing the supply of monetary assets and, in
the process, driving down nominal interest rates on very-short-term loans between
financial institutions.
The combination of more plentiful monetary assets and lower interest rates tends
to stimulate households and firms desire to spend. In the simplest sense, households
that find that they hold additional wealth in the form of monetary assets may simply
spend some of it. More subtly, if the reduction in the nominal interbank rate targeted
by the central bank diffuses through the market to lower real rates on the interestbearing assets bought and sold by households and firms, then monetary policy may
act through an interest-rate channel. Lower (real) interest rates encourage spending
by reducing the reward to saving and lowering the cost of home mortgages, car
loans, and student loans. For businesses, lower real interest rates reduce the cost of
borrowing to invest in plants and equipment.

The IS/LM model and aggregate demand

The verbal argument above follows the logic of the IS/LM model, which is a
commonly used model of aggregate demand. To see how the IS/LM model can be
used to derive an aggregate-demand curve, consider what happens when there is an
increase in the price level, given all of the other exogenous variables that affect IS
and LM.
If M does not change, an increase in prices causes M/P to fall. According to Table 1, this causes the LM curve to shift to the left in Figure 3. IS/LM equilibrium,
leading to a reduction in output (which we now think of as output demanded). This
negative relationship between price and output demanded reflects a downwardsloping AD curve as shown in Figure 5 (although we wouldnt generally expect the
AD curve to be linear).

2 - 27

AD

Figure 5. Aggregate demand curve

If we think of the IS/LM model as underpinning the AD curve, then any variable
other than P that shifts either the IS curve or the LM curve will cause the AD curve
to shift. Using Table 1, we see that increases in government spending, decreases in
taxes, or increases in expected future income would all shift the IS curve to the right,
leading to higher output. Thus, each of these changes shifts the AD curve to the right
as welloutput demanded is higher at each level of prices.
From Table 1, an increase in the money supply shifts the LM curve to the right
and increases demand as well. But the effect of an increase in the money supply on
the aggregate-demand curve can be stated in more precise terms. Suppose that M
goes up by 5% and that P also increases 5%. This would leave M/P unchanged, so
11

the LM curve would not move and there would be no change in output demanded.
In graphical terms, this means that the new AD curve after the 5% increase in the
money supply must be shifted upward by exactly 5% at each level of Y. Figure 6
shows this effect. If M increases from M0 to 1.05M0, then if Y stays the same, the
equilibrium level of P must increase from P0 to 1.05P0.
11

The leftward shift in LM due to the increase in P exactly offsets the rightward shift due to
the rise in M because the LM curves position depends on M/P.

2 - 28

5% increase in P

1.05 P0
P0

AD(M=1.05M0)
AD(M=M0)
Y
Figure 6. Effect of 5% increase in money supply on AD

The quantity theory and aggregate demand

A simpler alternative to the IS/LM model for underpinning aggregate demand is
the quantity theory. If velocity is taken as exogenous, then equation (8) can be
viewed as a downward-sloping aggregate-demand curve, expressing P as a function
of Y and the two exogenous variables M and V. This curve will be nonlinear (specifically, a rectangular hyperbola) in the levels of P and Y.
The quantity-theory AD curve has the same property shown in Figure 6 as the
AD curve based on the IS/LM model. A 5% increase in the money supply (or in velocity in this case) leads to a 5% upward shift in the AD curve.
Any effect of fiscal policy and other IS variables on the quantity-theory-based
AD curve is indirect. If changes in government spending, taxes, or expected future
incomes do not affect the money supply or velocity, then they will have no effect on
aggregate demand. But if we take into account the possible effect of the interest rate
on velocity, then these IS variables might affect velocity indirectly through their
effects on the interest rate. For example, if an increase in government spending raises
interest rates in the economy, this would raise the opportunity cost of holding money
(vs. bonds), which might increase money velocity as households economize on holding money. The increase in velocity would shift the AD curve up and to the right.
When we use the quantity-theory formulation of aggregate demandwhich we
will often do in later chapters because of its simplicitywe should think of MV as a

2 - 29

general indicator of aggregate demand, incorporating both monetary policy and all of
the other factors that might reasonably determine the position of the AD curve.

Static equilibrium
It is probably obvious that the short-run equilibrium of the economy occurs at the
intersection of the aggregate demand and short-run aggregate supply curves and that
the long-run equilibrium is where the aggregate demand curve intersects the long-run
aggregate supply curve. The situation depicted in Figure 7 shows a state of long-run
and short-run equilibrium at point e. If the aggregate demand curve and aggregate
supply curves were to remain unchanged, the economy would continue to produce
Yn and have a price level of Pe indefinitely.
However, as noted above, there are many reasons why the AD and AS curves
could shift. In the next section, we consider ongoing changes such as steady growth
in natural output and sustained inflation. Here we examine one-time changes as perturbations from a static equilibrium such as a point e.

LRAS
SRAS

Pe

AD

Yn

Figure 7. Long-run equilibrium

2 - 30

Shocks to aggregate demand

Consider first the effects of a one-time unexpected exogenous positive shock to
aggregate demand. As discussed above, this could arise from an expansionary monetary-policy action, an expansionary fiscal-policy action, or an increase in desired expenditures from another source, whether modeled through the IS and LM curves or
through M and V in the quantity-theory formulation. An increase in aggregate demand shifts the AD curve to the right; more output is demanded at each level of the
12
aggregate price index.
Since the change in AD is unexpected, the expected price level remains at Pe and
since the natural level of output Yn does not depend on aggregate demand, the aggregate supply curves do not shift. Point e in Figure 8 shows the short-run effect of the
aggregate demand increase. Output increases in the short run to Y1 and the price level rises to P1.
Assuming that the change in aggregate demand is permanent but not repeated,
price expectations will adjust upward in the long run following the increase in actual
prices. As the expected price rises, the short-run aggregate supply curve must move
upward with it because the SRAS always passes through the point where Y = Yn and
price equals the expected price. The expected price and the SRAS will continue to
shift upward until the economy reaches point e in Figure 8, with the price level rising further to P2 and output returning to the unchanged natural level.
Thus, a one-time change in aggregate demand affects both output and prices in
the short run, but affects only prices in the long run. One application of this result is
the concept of monetary neutrality. Since increases in the money supply are one cause
of aggregate demand changes, this model shows that monetary expansion will have
no effect on real output in the long run: money is neutral. Moreover, as we discussed
above, the increase in price that re-establishes long-run equilibrium is in exact proportion to the monetary expansion. A 10% increase in the money supply leads to a
10% increase in the long-run equilibrium price level, leaving the real quantity of
money unchanged. There are 10% more dollars in circulation, but they buy the same
amount of stuff because all goods cost 10% more.

12

We begin all of our experiments from an initial point of long-run equilibrium. This allows
us to examine the short-run and long-run effects of the shock without interference. If we
were to begin from any other situation, two separate effects would be occurring at the same
time: (1) the natural adjustment process from the initial situation to long-run equilibrium,
which would have occurred in the absence of any shock, and (2) the effects of the shock. Beginning from full employment sometimes seems counterintuitive when the shock in question
is a change in macroeconomic policy, since expansionary monetary and fiscal policy is usually used when the economy is believed to be operating below the natural level of output.

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LRAS

SRAS

P2
P1
Pe

SRAS
e

AD

Yn

Y1

AD

Figure 8. Effects of an increase in aggregate demand

Shocks to aggregate supply

The most important kinds of supply shocks are those that affect the natural level
of output in the economy. For example, an improvement in production technology
or an increase in the amount of labor or capital resources available would increase
the aggregate amount produced in PCGE and thus shift both the long-run and the
short-run AS curves to the right. A storm that destroyed agricultural crops or a sudden interruption in the availability of imported inputs such as oil might cause a re13
duction in Yn and a shift to the left in the AS curves.
Figure 9 shows the effects of a positive shock to aggregate supply that increases
the natural level of output from Yn to Yn. Assuming no change in the expected price
level, both the LRAS and SRAS curves shift to the right so that the SRAS curve
passed through (Yn, Pe). If aggregate demand does not change, the short-run equilibrium of the economy is at e, with output increasing only to Y1 (by less than the full
13

Was the 2008 financial-market disruption that curtailed many firms access to financial capital a supply shock or a demand shock? The monetary and financial system is usually modeled as part of the demand side but constraints on the ability of firms to produce are supply
shocks. One can think of both kinds of effects occurring in 2008.

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increase in natural output) and price falling to P1. At e the economy is actually below
its natural output, but it is unlikely that policymakers or the general public would
easily recognize this gap because Yn is not directly observable and the absolute level
of output has increased.
In the long run, the expected price level will adjust downward following the decline in prices. The eventual equilibrium of the economy will occur at e, with price
falling further to P2 and real output increasing to the new natural level.
The one-time shocks depicted in Figure 8 and Figure 9 are interesting and they
illustrate the short-run and long-run effects of demand and supply shocks. However,
they are unrealistic in one important way: the economy in which they occur has neither ongoing growth in natural real output not inflation of the price level.
Since output in nearly all modern economies is growing over time and inflation
is a common phenomenon in most, we should also examine how the AS/AD model
can be used to demonstrate the equilibrium evolution of such economies. We now
turn to that task.

LRAS LRAS
SRAS SRAS

Pe

P1
P2

e
e

AD

Yn Y1 Yn
Figure 9. Effects of an aggregate supply shock

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F. Dynamic Equilibrium in the AS/AD Model

Modern economies grow; they do not stand still at a stationary point of equilibrium. If natural output and the determinants of aggregate demand (in particular, the
money supply) are growing over time, then the economy does not remain perpetually
in a static equilibrium such as the one depicted by point e in Figure 7. Instead, the
whole system of AD and AS curves shifts over time, tracing out a dynamic time path
of momentary equilibrium points. In this section, we first discuss why we would expect AS and AD curves to shift, then we examine the kind of equilibrium path that
would results from steady growth in natural output and the money supply.

Why the AS curve shifts over time

Economic growth theory, which will occupy us for the first third of the semester,
explains how and why the natural level of output increases over time. We will preview the main factors here, then dive into the details of growth theory in the next
chapter.
Recall that the natural level of output is the amount produced at full employment
under perfect competition. With labor and capital resources fully employed, an increase in the amount of labor or capital available leads to a rise in natural output.
Similarly an increase in the technological efficiency of production would result in
greater natural output. Thus, in simple terms, we can think of Yn as reflecting the
amount of output that can be produced by the available quantities of labor and capital using the best available technology.
The labor force in most countries increases from year to year. Investment by
firms in new capital typically exceeds the amount of old capital depreciating, so the
amount of capital input also usually grows over time. Finally, technological progress
means that economies are able to get more output from their resource inputs.
Through growth in labor and capital inputs and technological progress, the natural
level of output tends to grow steadily over time, pushing the aggregate supply curves
to the right. On a steady-state growth patha concept to be defined more carefully
in the next chapterthe annual percentage rate of growth in natural output would be
constant, with the long-run aggregate-supply curve shifting to the right by a constant
proportional amount each year.

Why the AD curve shifts over time

The rightward shift in the aggregate demand curve over time is somewhat more
complicated to explain than aggregate supply without resorting to formal, mathematical analysis. To keep our initial exposition simple, we fall back on the simple quantity-theory model of aggregate demand that will suffice for most purposes.
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The simple AD curve of equation (8) shows an important mechanism by which

aggregate demand moves in the long run: growth in the money supply. Most central
banks accommodate growth in the economys transaction volume (i.e., growth in Y)
by expanding the supply of money. The growth in M pushes the AD curve up and to
the right in proportion to the monetary expansion.
You can see from equation (8) that if the central bank expands the money supply
at the same rate that real output is growing (and if velocity is constant), then prices
will be stable. The increases in M in the numerator and Y in the denominator will
exactly balance with no change in V or P. If money growth exceeds real-output
growth, then the quantity theory predicts that prices will rise to maintain the equationthere will be positive price inflation. If money growth falls short of output
growth, then prices will tend to fall over time, which we call deflation.

Equilibrium with growth and inflation

We have now established engines that can push the aggregate supply and aggregate demand curves to the right over time. Figure 10 shows a sequence of equilibria
in an economy with both growth and inflation. Growth in labor, capital, and technological capability is increasing the natural level of output by 3 percent each year,
from Yn,1 to Yn,2 to Yn,3 over the three years shown in Figure 10. This means that the
LRAS curve is moving to the right as shown, by 3 percent per year.
The money supply is growing at 5 percent per year, which shifts the aggregate
demand curve upward and to the right by 5 percent each year. This is shown as AD1,
AD2, and AD3 in Figure 10. (Of course, the AD curve should not be linear. It is
drawn as a straight line in the figure for simplicity.)
We assume that the behavior of the money supply and aggregate demand are
correctly predicted by everyone in the modelthis is a smooth, ongoing process of
growth and inflation with no shocks or surprises. Thus, price-setters and wage-setters
would correctly anticipate that the price level would be P1 in the first period, P2 in the
second period, and P3 in the third period. Since the SRAS curve always intersects the
LRAS at the expected price level, it would move as shown by the SRAS1, SRAS2,
and SRAS3 curves in Figure 10.
Thus, the sequence of equilibrium will be traced out by the intersections of the
AD and SRAS (and LRAS) curves at e1, e2, and e3. With AD shifting up 5 percent
each year and AS shifting only 3 percent, the difference of 2 percent will be the increase in the price level. Thus, the economy pictured in Figure 10 would have a
steady rate of inflation of 2 percent.

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LRAS2

LRAS1

LRAS3
SRAS1
SRAS2
SRAS3

P3
P2
P1

2%
2%

e3

e2

e1

5%

3%

3%

Yn,1

5%

Yn,2

AD2

AD1
Yn,3

AD3

Figure 10. Inflationary growth in the AS/AD model

Are the points of equilibrium shown in Figure 10 short-run equilibria or long-run
equilibria? They are certainly short-run equilibria because they are at the intersection
of the AD and SRAS curves. They are also long-run equilibria in the same sense because they are intersections of the AD and LRAS curve. However, calling something
a long-run equilibrium that is obviously changing from year to year seems awkward.
This is the difficulty we discussed at the beginning of the chapter with modeling
aggregate demand and supply in terms of levels of Y and P rather than growth rates.
On a diagram with the rate of inflation on the vertical axis and the rate of output
growth on the horizontal axis, the sequence of e points in Figure 10 would be a single, stable point of equilibrium with output growth of 3 percent and inflation of 2
percent. Since we will not use the AS/AD apparatus formally in this course, it is not
worth a detailed derivation of the alternative forms of the curves. As discussed just
below, in growth models we ignore aggregate demand altogether while in our models
of business cycles we will usually ignore the ongoing growth of natural output. This
avoids the problem of combining growth and fluctuations around the natural growth
path at the same time.

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A growth recession
The dynamic equilibrium diagram of Figure 10 can also be used to show the effects of a slower-than-expected growth in aggregate demand. Suppose that the equilibria in periods one and two are as shown at e1 and e2 in Figure 10, which are replicated in Figure 11. Everyone expects that aggregate demand in period three will continue to grow at 5 percent, as shown by AD3e in Figure 11. However, suppose that in
period three the central bank reduces money growth from 5 percent to 3 percent in an
effort to eliminate inflation. This means that the actual aggregate demand curve in
period three is at AD3, below the expected level.
Since inflation expectations were formed based on the expected AD curve AD3e,
expected inflation is still 2 percent and the expected price level is P3e. This means that
the SRAS curve still shifts to SRAS3 based on the 2 percent expected inflation. However, since actual aggregate demand is AD2, the equilibrium of the economy in period three is at e3 in Figure 11, with output Y3 lower that the natural level Yn,3 and prices still rising somewhat to P3, but rising less than the expected inflation rate of 2 percent.

LRAS2

LRAS1

P3 e
P3
P2
P1

LRAS3
SRAS1
SRAS2
SRAS3
SRAS3*

2%
2%

e3

e2

e1

e3*

5%

5%
3%

AD2

AD1
3%

3%

Yn,1

Yn,2

Figure 11. A growth recession

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Y3 Yn,3

AD3e
AD3

This situation is sometimes called a growth recession. It does not officially

qualify as a recession because real output continues to grow. However, the growth
rate of output in period three is less than the growth in natural outputreal output
falls below its growth trendhence the term growth recession.
The situation shown in Figure 11 suggests that reducing the rate of inflation can
be costlyit induces a temporary reduction in output growth. This change is temporary because once expectations adjust to the change in monetary growth, the SRAS
curve will adjust downward to reflect lowered inflation expectations and output will
return to its natural growth path. Depending on the size of the gap between Y3 and
Yn,3 and the length of time required for expectations adjustment to occur, this cost of
14

disinflation could be small or large.

It is worth noting what would have happened if everyone had correctly anticipated the reduction in money growth in time to set wages and prices. In Figure 11, the
expected price level for period three would have remained at P2 rather than rising to
P3e, which would have shifted the SRAS curve further to the right to SRAS3*. In that
case, equilibrium in period three would be at e3*, with output growing at the natural
growth rate and inflation immediately jumping to the 0 percent rate that is consistent
with the lowered rate of money growth.
This makes it clear that it is the delayed adjustment of wages and prices based on
faulty inflation expectations that causes the growth recession in Figure 11. In the
simple AS/AD model, a fully credible disinflation that is known about far enough in
advance to allow wage and price setters to adjust will not lead to a reduction of output below its natural level. Disinflation can be costly, but in this model it need not be
if monetary policy has sufficient credibility.

G. A Preview of Romers Text from the Perspective of

Aggregate Supply/Demand
Growth models
Chapters 1 through 3 of Romers textbook describe the evolution of economic
growth theory from the Solow model of the 1950s through the optimal growth models that Cass and Koopmans built on Ramseys framework in the 1960s to the endogenous growth models of Paul Romer and others since the 1980s. These growth

14

In a famous article, Laurence Ball (1994) has estimated the sacrifice ratiothe amount of
forgone output for each percentage-point reduction in inflationfor late 20th century disinflations.

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models all describe the evolution over time in the natural level of output, ignoring
any role of aggregate demand.
The emphasis in these models is on increases in aggregate supplies of labor and
capital resources and on technological progressi.e., on the supply side of the macroeconomy. By focusing exclusively on aggregate supply, these models ignore any
demand-related fluctuations of output relative to its long-run equilibrium growth
path, such as those in Figure 11.

Real business cycles

Romers Chapter 5 presents a stylized version of the real business cycle (RBC)
model. This model is also entirely based on the supply side of the economy, but rather than looking exclusively at smooth trend movements in natural output it considers situations where the increase in natural output is subject to shocks. These supply
shocks, which can be bursts of rapid or slow technological progress, cause the
amount of rightward shift in the natural level of output and the LRAS curve to vary
from year to year.
Like the growth models, the real business cycle model has no role for aggregate
demand. It explains business cycles as fluctuations in supply-driven growth of Yn, not
as movements of Y around a smoothly growing Yn. This difference is of critical importance for macroeconomic policy. Since Yn is the level of output generated by the
PCGE model, an appropriate goal of macro policy is to keep Y close to Yn. If business cycles are fluctuations of Y around Yn, then countercyclical policy to diminish
these movements is desirable. If, as in the RBC model, it is the natural level of output
itself that fluctuates, then the resulting cyclical movements in output are both natural and desirable. It would be inappropriate for monetary and fiscal policies to attempt to smooth them out. (And of course the RBC model predicts that monetary
and fiscal policy, because they affect AD, would not affect output anyway.)

The IS/LM and Mundell-Fleming models

Romer introduces the IS/LM framework and a variantthe IS/MP modelin
Chapter 6. The IS/LM model was developed for a closed economyone with no
trade or credit transactions with the rest of the world. The Mundell-Fleming model is
an open-economy variant on the IS/LM approach, allowing for imports and exports
of goods and for net borrowing and lending between countries. We may discuss the
Mundell-Fleming model, but only briefly; it is covered extensively in Economics 342.
The IS/LM, IS/MP, and Mundell-Fleming models are all models of aggregate
demand. To the extent that they pretend, on their own, to be theories of real output
determination, they are making the implicit assumption of fixed pricesa horizontal
aggregate supply curve. This assumption is probably not very realistic even in the
short run and is clearly inappropriate in the long run. A more appropriate characteri-

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zation of the macroeconomy would use these models to explain the AD curve, then
combine them with theories of aggregate supply.

H. Suggestions for Further Reading

Much of the material discussed in this chapter is covered in standard introductory or intermediate macroeconomics texts. One of the best at each level is written by
N. Gregory Mankiw: his Macroeconomics is an intermediate text and his Introduction to
Macroeconomics is more basic. Other standard intermediate texts are those of Olivier
Blanchard; Robert Hall and John Taylor; and Andrew Abel and Ben Bernanke. (All
of these intermediate texts are called Macroeconomics.) Another useful intermediate
text is Macroeconomics: A European Text by Michael Burda and Charles Wyplosz. This
is the text currently used in Econ 304 at Reed; it contains a more complete treatment
of open-economy and international issues than the American texts.

I. Works Cited in Text

Ball, Laurence. 1994. What Determines the Sacrifice Ratio? In Monetary Policy,
edited by N. G. Mankiw. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Fisher, Irving. 1913. The Purchasing Power of Money: Its Determination and Relation to
Credit, Interest and Crises. New York: Macmillan.
Hicks, John R. 1937. Mr. Keynes and the 'Classics'. Econometrica 5 (2):147-159.
Kahn, R. F. 1931. The Relation of Home Investment to Unemployment. Economic
Journal 41 (162):173-198.
Leijonhufvud, Axel. 1968. On Keynesian Economics and the Economics of Keynes: A
Study in Monetary Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.
Parker, Jonathan A. 2011. On Measuring the Effects of Fiscal Policy in Recessions.
Journal of Economic Literature 49 (3):703-718.
Pigou, A. C. 1933. The Theory of Unemployment. London: Macmillan.
Ramey, Valerie A. 2011. Can Government Purchases Stimulate the Economy?
Journal of Economic Literature 49 (3):673-685.
Taylor, John B. 2011. An Empirical Analysis of the Revival of Fiscal Activism in the
2000s. Journal of Economic Literature 49 (3):686-702.

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